Stephon Gilmore Scouting Report

Positives
Great size and strength for the position. 4.4 speed. Excels at the line of scrimmage when he can get into a WR’s face, press and reroute them. At the line, he has the ability to use his strength and length to win before the play starts. He can turn and run with receivers as well, staying on their hips and making plays on the football.

Negatives
Despite interceptions totals, 2016 wasn’t his best year. Has had mixed results in his career. Was beat too often, especially when asked to play off the ball or in zone facing the quarterback. Hasn’t played a full season since his rookie year, missed time with wrist fracture (2013), hip/groin injuries (2014) and a torn labrum (2015).

Stephon Gilmore Statistics

Stephon Gilmore Player Comparables

Statistical Comparison
Here are the annual averages for each player two years prior to signing his contract. Gilmore paces the field in both interceptions and passes defensed.

Contract Comparison
The 2017 salary cap-adjusted average per year is $14.2 million.

Stephon Gilmore Leverage

Josh Norman had a breakout season during his contract year, albeit he was the best cornerback in football in 2015. After the Panthers rescinded their franchise tag on Norman, the Redskins made him the highest paid cornerback in the NFL. Janoris Jenkins had the advantage of the open market, and the aggressive but inconsistent Rams’ cornerback cashed in with the Giants. Darius Slay had quietly become one of the league’s better cover men and signed a contract last summer.

Gilmore has been far more consistent that either Jenkins or Norman in the early stages of their careers but has certainly had his ups and downs. Gilmore never had the season Norman did in 2015, but he has put the clamps on some of the league’s best receivers off in small-market Buffalo. The 2017 NFL Draft has a strong cornerback class, but that shouldn’t affect his dollars or cents like it should the running back market.

Stephon Gilmore Reservation Price

Given that Slay didn’t would have had to play another season (and perhaps a franchise tag) before reaching free agency, Gilmore shouldn’t receive less than $12-million per. In today’s NFL, cover corners are worth just about their weight in gold. In free agency, good players get paid like great players. Gilmore is a good cornerback. A+B=C.

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Published by Front Office Football

FOF's founder, Anthony Holzman-Escareno, is a 2016 graduate from the University of Oregon's Warsaw Sports Marketing Center MBA program.
During his time in the program, he focused his studies on the promotion, marketing and branding of NFL players. He's interned at multiple sports agencies, including Athletes First in Laguna Hills.
The NFL's Collective Bargaining Agreement and NFL player contracts have been a passion of Anthony's for many years. He also works as a football researcher for the NFL Network.
From a homeless, ninth-grade dropout to an MBA graduate, sometimes the best products come in the worst packaging. Long live the rose that grew from concrete.
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